The present invention relates to consumable printer components and, more particularly, to the protection of consumable printer components through positioning designated non-use regions of these components in a manner which protects the remaining usable regions.
Printing devices such as printers, copiers, and facsimile machines, have replaceable components with limited life cycles during which the components are functional. When a component""s life cycle ends, the component must be replaced. Examples of replaceable printing device components, often referred to as consumables, include paper, toner cartridges, ink cartridges, ribbon cartridges, fusers, photoconductors, drums, intermediate transfer belts, and the like. Consumables such as paper, toner and ink are consumed with each printed page because they make up the printed product. Other consumables such as fusers, photoconductors, and transfer drums or belts, are consumed with each page printed due to deterioration.
These latter consumable types are very sensitive and can be easily damaged through the general handling environment encountered, for example, while being handled during insertion into the printing device. In order to protect these consumables, they are generally enclosed within a cartridge or protective housing. However, their sensitive elements must be exposable to the external environment during the printing process so that they can accept and transfer image information or otherwise fulfill their function as designed within the printing process.
Therefore, the protective housing or cartridge which shields such consumables typically includes a gap through which the sensitive consumable element can be exposed. In order to limit this exposure, a movable protective mechanism such as a shutter is designed to cover the gap during times when the consumable item is not inserted within the printing device. Thus, while the cartridge containing the consumable is outside of the printing device, the protective shutter remains closed. When the cartridge is inserted into the printing device, a mechanism acts to open the shutter, exposing the sensitive consumable element in preparation for the printing process to begin.
Although this method of protecting consumable components works fairly well, the additional material and design costs associated with such shutter mechanisms increases the price consumers must pay to replace the consumable components. Thus, the cost of consumable components significantly increases the overall cost of ownership for printing devices. The use of shutter mechanisms to protect the sensitive consumable components serves to further increase the overall cost of ownership for various printing devices.
Accordingly, the need exists for a cost effective way of protecting sensitive consumable printing elements from harmful exposure in a general handling environment, while permitting the exposure of such elements as necessary to achieve their designed functionality in a printing process environment.
Sensitive consumable components of printing devices are protected from harmful exposure to the environment and handling damage by designating regions of the components as non-use zones and consistently positioning the non-use zones toward exposure gaps in protective housings of the components during periods when the device is not printing.
Printers include one or more insertable consumable components that each have an image process surface. The consumable components are enclosed in protective housings that have an exposure gap. Printer control logic located either on the printer or on a host computer coupled to the printer, designates a region of the image process surface as a non-use zone. During periods when the printer is not printing, the printer control logic positions the non-use zone toward the exposure gap in the protective housing.
The printer control logic also designates a region of the image process surface as an image zone. During periods of printing, the image process surface translates past an exposure gap in the protective housing that encloses the consumable component. As the process surface translates past the exposure gap, image information is transferred to and from the image zone. The printer control logic operates to avoid transferring image information to a non-use zone during periods of printing.
Positioning the non-use zone of a consumable component toward the exposure gap when printing is complete, protects the image zone portion of the consumable by preventing its contact with the external environment through the exposure gap. The need for shutter mechanisms that cover exposure gaps and shield sensitive consumable elements from the general handling environment is therefore reduced. Reducing or eliminating shutter mechanisms from consumable cartridges or protective housings lowers design and manufacturing costs, thereby reducing the cost of replacing consumable components for printing devices.